I’m designing PCB with many socketed components.
I’m placing sockets’ footprints on my PCB in PCB Editor.
But I want to see my PCB in 3D with installed components too, as some of them are rather large, and I don’t want to edit footprint to switch between views.
Is it possible to assign 2 sets of 3D models to footprint and switch between them?
I’m saying “2 sets” because my sockets are composed from several parts, soldering independently (think: automotive fuse holder, which consists of two indenpendend quick-connect reciprocals, so “unpopulated” 3D view consist of 2 models and “popluated” 3D view consist of 3 models).
And selection of only one 3D model will not be helpful too, as I said, each view could be composed from several models… It is possible to create “compound” 3D model in 3D CAD, of course, but requires additional steps.
Example:
Say you have a default Part One with default Footprint/Model1 and Two other Footprint/Model files (2 and 3, where 3 contains 3 different models you set up when creating the Footprint/Model3).
Put the default Part One on the PCB, double-click and ‘Change Footprint’ select the Footprint/Model you want to use instead of Footprint/Model1. Done.
Let’s say you want to use a Footprint/Model2 or Footprint/Model3: Double-click the part on the PCB and select “Change Footprint” in the panel. Select desired, such as Footprint/mModel3 (which is setup to with 3 models). Done
From what I understand of your wish, a scripted approach is probably the best.
Also: Is this about many different footprints, or more about a lot of different copies of the same footprint?
Another way is to make 2 directories in your project with 3D models, and put different 3D models in them, but with the same names. Then you can swap all the 3D models by just renaming the directories. You may have to close Pcbnew while renaming the directories. I have never tried this but it should work.
It is obvious solution, but after that it will be error-prone to change footprints in case of errors and edits: you will need to change footprint twice, as it could not be shared. Footprint itself doesn’t depend on 3D model, of course…
But it is doable, yes.
If my understanding is correct: you want to implement a single multipurpose footprint in pcbnew and you want to select among two or more 3D models for rendering. If not, please ignore !
But if so, my method is to allocate several 3D models for the same footprint, configuring every 3D model with 0 for at least two axis scales, except the 3D model you want to display.
This not really quick but I think, if you know how to do it, that a script would do the trick.
The multiple 3D model allocation is saved as part of the PCB.
If you want to generalize this association for other projects, the footprint needs to be modified from within the dedicated footprint library. It will be saved as a default configuration.
See this post: Footprint editor: scale rotation and offset are blank and inoperative, from the middle to the end.